Typically, in an election year, candidates are on the campaign trail in the summer, meeting their voters, knocking on doors and kissing babies for photos.
But there hasn’t been much of that in West Virginia so far. Sure, there have been TV ads and text message campaigns and plenty of passive-aggressive posts on social media — in other words, online, but not in line at the county fair.
Of course, there are also some candidates who need to boost their profile. For example, Democrat Glenn Elliott, who is running for the US Senate against Republican Governor Jim Justice, visited 47 counties so far, including a stop in Charleston last weekend, and has upcoming town halls listed on its website.
However, there was not much justice to be seen. Of course he has to lead the state, although lately that seems to consist of hand out huge checks And ceremonial signing of the law. Sightings of the judge in the capital are also uncommon, as he continues to prefer his home in Lewisburg. The West Virginia Democratic Party recently released a recording of him tell people there is “no fiber” in him that wants to go to DC His last Press release on his campaign website is from April.
The Democrats have a tough fight ahead of them in this election as West Virginia is becoming increasingly Republican – the number of registered Republicans in West Virginia is grew by 27% over the past eight years. Republicans now make up about 41% of registered voters in West Virginia. July 31Democrats make up about 30% and independents about 25% of registered voters.
In some districts, the Republicans are unopposed. According to Office of the Secretary of State of West Virginia, Twenty-five Republicans won their seats in the state legislature without facing an opponent in the 2022 general election.
Despite the advantage of having an R next to a candidate’s name, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican candidate for governor, is another who is making stops across the state to boost his profile. On his X account, he recently published about visiting the Tri-County Fair in Grant County.
Morrisey is running against Huntington Mayor Steve Williams. While the Democrat is well-respected in Cabell County, the long-time mayor is not well-known in the rest of the state. He has campaigned more digitally than in-person events – since the May primary, he has published about two campaign stops – Elkins on July 5 and Parkersburg last weekend.
What candidates have to do is travel all over the state and talk to the people of West Virginia.
Every part of the state and its people are so different – I grew up in Putnam County and when I moved to Morgantown to attend West Virginia University, Monongalia County felt like a different state. Huntington, while also a college town, doesn’t have many other similarities to Morgantown. My first newspaper job covered local governments in Barbour, Doddridge, Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Taylor and Upshur counties, and even though they were all in the north-central part of the state, each county had its own problems.
Sure, maybe people in central counties have similar concerns about voting, but people in southern West Virginia or the Eastern Panhandle might have very different views. And that’s why it’s critical to reach as many West Virginians as possible.
Could it be a result of COVID precautions during the 2020 election that resulted in candidates spending less time meeting with their voters in person?
Technology has changed elections. Candidates can reach more people online and publish information that anyone with an internet connection can read. In the past, people had to rely on election guides in newspapers, but these are often behind paywalls.
And while it is easier to provide information to voters online, some candidates do not even have campaign websites or Facebook pages, making it incredibly hard to find information about them. I had to search for a long time to find some candidates’ contact information so that I could Voter Handbook 2024and some still haven’t answered my questions.
One critical thing to know about West Virginia is that there are still areas with no internet available or the connection is so sluggish that it is unusable.
There is sometimes a distrust of social media among those who can go online. After Elon Musk bought Twitter, changed his name to X, and allowed people to Purchase confirmation rather than earning it, many people no longer trust the social media platform as a source of news. In fact, the site experienced a Daily users down 23% As of February this year.
Facebook is full of AI-generated spamand unfortunately many people do not know that what they see is not real.
To reach West Virginians, you have to go to them. Not everyone is going to go to a town hall meeting, especially if they can’t get away from work, if it’s not someone they want to vote for, or if they’re just disillusioned with politics. But if someone runs into a candidate at a parade, fair, festival, or just on the street and has a conversation with them, that could have a positive impact on the voter.
It’s festival season – it’s a great time for candidates to get out and talk to voters. As a former marching band member, I’ve been to many parades and have seen politicians handing out flyers at all of them in the past. These events are the perfect opportunity to speak to a variety of figures in the state – and get a taco in the bag.
